The list features 300 young entrepreneurs, leaders and changemakers across Asia, all under the age of 30.
Currently residing in Murdoch, Western Australia, Ashiwin is a postdoctoral research fellow and the Deputy Director of the Algae R&D Centre at Murdoch University.
FMT had a chat with him recently about how his experiences have helped shape him and what lies ahead in the world of healthcare.
“I’m a local lad from Sungai Petani, Kedah. I didn’t have much of a clue what I was getting myself into when I took the biotechnology course. It turned out to be the biggest blessing and the best decision I ever made,” Ashiwin says.
Fuelled by the passion to succeed and prove his critics wrong, he aced his undergraduate degree, even getting into the dean’s list multiple times.
Then came the gold medal he received from the Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC) for his final year research project, that he saw as validation for all his hard work in the past.
Success did not stop there for Ashiwin. Armed with a local scholarship, he pursued his PhD in Algal Biotechnology at Murdoch University in 2013.
“Undertaking a PhD at the young age of 23 in a foreign country was the most daunting task I’ve ever taken on,” Ashiwin says. Nonetheless with persistence, hard work and determination, he completed his PhD in 2017.
Along the way, he was also among the top ten finalists for the 2014 and 2015 MASCA-EMA Award for Excellence in the field of Life Sciences & Health Care and emerged the winner in 2015.
In the same year, he also won the prestigious 2015 BASF Asia Pacific PhD Challenge, thus establishing collaboration with the biggest chemical manufacturer in the world (BASF).
Even with his recent recognition in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list, Ashiwin is very much the same humble boy who left Kedah all those years ago to pursue an education.
“This recognition means a lot to me as it affirms my career in the field of science (R&D) and it also provides a great deal of motivation to work harder in the future.
“It is truly inspiring to be placed side by side with so many talented, young individuals who are working towards making positive changes in the world and are being recognised for it.”
Accolades aside, Ashiwin is currently focusing on his latest undertaking – the use of microalgae for the successful treatment of wastewater.
According to him, this technology is highly attractive and valuable as it represents the conversion of waste streams into profitable end-products (circular economy) in which the wastewater is not only treated into cleaner reclaimable water but produces valuable algae biomass simultaneously.
He excitedly notes that his team is also currently working on the use of microalgae as potential trace evidence for aquatic forensic crime scene reconstruction. This would allow forensic investigators to establish evidence to prove the presence of a potential perpetrator at the scene of a crime.
Covid-19 may have put a damper on things for many people but it’s encouraging to know that young Malaysians are out there still making a positive difference in the world.